Daniel
A. Schulke
Daniel is a
practitioner of English folk magic and the sorcery of the Dreaming Sabbath, the
ecstatic confluence of waking, oneiric, hypnotic and hypnagogic states. Since
the death of Andrew D. Chumbley in 2004, he has been presiding Magister of
Cultus Sabbati, a
Magical Order comprised of traditional cunning-craft initiates in which a number
of lineal streams and bodies of folk magical customs converge and intersect. In 2001 he began serving the Order in the office of
Verdelet, concerned with the gnostic parameters of plant-genii and the Spirits
of Place. In this wise he has authored two texts for Xoanon Publishing: Ars Philtron (2001, 2008), concerning
the occult praxes of the potion and other ensorcelled fluidic media; and Viridarium Umbris: The Pleasure-Garden of
Shadow (2005), concerning the secrets of trees and herbs as delivered by
the Fallen Angels unto man. He has also authored numerous articles in the
occult periodical ‘The Cauldron’ as well. Under the greater aegis of Cultus
Sabbati, he is also the present preceptor of the sorcerous guild known as ‘The
Companie of the Serpent-Cross’ and of ‘Arbor Infernis’, a magical sodality whose
concerns directly appertain the sorcerous dominions of plant-lore and charming.
These three images are from a privately-commissioned
deck of 81 augury cards drawn in coloured pencil for a patron in Autumn of
1989. These pictures are not for sale and are held in a private collection
8” x
12” Watercolour and Gouache on paper , 1999. One of a series of image-exorcisms
arising from broodings upon kenosis.
SOLD
Plant-Spirit Series, 5.5” x 7.5”
Watercolour, Gouache, and Plant Pigments on paper, 1999. From 1998-1999 I
realised a series of immersive reveries upon thanatopathic plants, those herbs
being bearers of death, decay, and funereal power. This present image was one
of several paintings impressed by the Cypress Tree, the Wood of the Coffin and
the fixer of grave-aethyr.
SOLD
Plant-Spirit Series, 12” x 18”
Watercolour, Gouache, and Plant Pigments on paper, 1999. Tobacco stands at the heart of the
Solanaceae, a botanical family also known as the nightshades, whose folklore
bristles with witchcraft. As a North American plant, it was used in Amerindian
magic for its manifold powers, but particularly in prayer, war, confrontation,
vision-induction, and commanding spirits. Here it is pictured in one malign
thanatopathic masque, a retributive emanant arising from its profanation and
misuse.
SOLD
Ars Philtron colour series, 12”x 18”
Watercolour, Gouache, and Plant Pigments, 2001. The Sojourner enters the
Immortal Gardens of Arte through the Red Portal of Nod, in the status of Exile.
Here All is Thorns, and no Fruit. The profaner is sacrificed and boil'd within
the Cucurbit of Ordeal to separate the faints from the Nectars of Paradise. The
fivefold retinue of Red Poison, Forge-Fire, Vessel of Transmutation, Vessel of
Condensation, and Honey'd Nectar is the Pentalphic Sacramentum known unto the
Wise
as "Bitter Wine".
Not For Sale – In Private Collection.
Study
for Ars Philtron colour series, 9.75”
x 9” Watercolour, Gouache, and Plant Pigments on paper, 2000.
An
early study for the variant image which appeared in the book.
SOLD
Ars Philtron colour series, 8” x 12”
Watercolour, Gouache, and Plant Pigments, 2001. In the Womb of Lilith, Salts of
Abel are separated from the corpus of the Seeker, and the Salts of Cain
empowered by Virtue of the Seed of the Light-Bearer. In this act is the
consummation of the Transit through the Immortal Gardens, for the Seeker has
become the Philtre, united to Vessel and Fire… and thereby Magick Entire.
Not
For Sale – In Private Collection
Ars Philtron colour series, 12”x 18”
Watercolour, Gouache, and Plant Pigments, 2001. What is the menstruum which
does not boil, even though it be subjected to the hottest fire? It is the
Potable Gold of the Primal Sabbath, the Mystery of the Green-arising-from-Red.
Not
For Sale – In Private Collection
Reliquae Lamiae series, 16” x 20” Oil on
Canvas, 2004
Not
for Sale – In Private Collection
9” x 12”, Oil on Canvas Board, 2005. The image draws
power from the presiding spirit of Sacrifice, which holds dominion over the sorcerer’s
knife, but also the ravenous masque of Iron which ever seeks violent satiation,
be it by blood or by elemental Aeris.
This principle is readily observed in forge and foundry, wherein the esoteric
attributions of the ferric elemental to the God Mars are precisely and subtly
confirmed.
SOLD
Viridarium Umbris Pen and Ink 8 ½” x 11” 2005.
One of a series of drawings illustrating the First Transgression, the passage
of Light from the Edenic Serpent, seen here as a winged genius, unto Woman.
Not
For Sale
Viridarium Umbris Pen and Ink 8 ½” x 11, 2005.
The waking-reification of the genii of the Holly-Thicket, dreamt whilst
sleeping in such a grove.
Not
For Sale
Production of the Stone Via Three Portals of Flesh
Study
for Ars Philtron – Codex Vasculum, 6”
x 7” Pen and Ink on Paper 2008. One of a series of many drawings for the
revised Ars Philtron, integrating the
vascular wisdom of alchemical gnosis with the eroto-cognitive formulae of the
Witches’ Sabbath. In this image, the Vascular Array is Threefold, as are the Portals
of Congress. The Portal of Egress here is represented as the Male, but within
the Circle of Art, such may also be Female.
SOLD
Sublimative Catechesis
Study
for Ars Philtron – Codex Vasculum, 6.5” x 6”, Pen and Ink on Paper, 2008.
Apertaining the Gnosis of interpenetrative congress by the Formulae of the
Consuming Mouth. In times past such vascular junctures were vouchsafed by the
Clay of the Philosophers, for the volatility of the reagent or the Operation
itself could threaten the very structure of the vessels and cause leakage or
shattering. This is axiomatic as well for the Vessel-Dyad within the Circle of
Art, but instead of Clay, the vessels are appropriately primed for Congress.
SOLD
Study
for Ars Philtron – Codex Vasculum, 8” x 8.5” Pen and Ink on Paper, 2008. In this Formula, the Retort is the
Operative Vessel, being both a circulator and a distillation apparatus. However,
unlike mundane Circulatio, there is
no final Receiver to collect the distillate; the Operation is realized by means
of the Via Octriga, or the Eight-fold
Way, and congress is perpetual, with Lunar in balance to Solar.
Not
For Sale
Study
for Ars Philtron – Codex Vasculum Pen
and Ink on Paper, 2008. Certain conctions make use of the hidden process of Tenebratio, or ‘The Darkening’, which
seeks to increase the diabolic ‘dregs’ by driving off the mixture’s angelic
virtues. Accordingly, fixity or stasis is magnified and volatility diminished,
this is accomplished by a two-horned flask called a ‘Devil’, though many such
operations are traditionally accomplished through cauldrons of copper, iron, or
bronze.
Not
For Sale
Ars Philtron – Codex
Vasculum,
Pen and Ink on Paper, 2008. The image depicts a vascular formula of the Fons Vitae-
the so-called ‘longevity philtre’ whose dominion is preservation of the fleshly
vessel. However as a magical formula, caution must be taken in the initiation,
expression and consumption of such menstrua as its spirit-component may spawn
hidden and unwelcome automata; this is a part of the occult distinction between
hypertrophy and metastasis.
Not
For Sale
Ars Philtron – Codex
Vasculum,
Pen and Ink on Paper, 2008. Formulae of ancient and medieval sorcery insist on
the use of the ‘Pure Vessel’ for varying applications of the Art, and the
Wytchan Philtre is no different. However, consideration of the nature of the
‘corrupt vessel’ is also apposite; for within the shade-bound Round of Al-Zabbat,
the ‘defiled grail’ of Babalon is known to be the purest.
Not
For Sale
Ars Philtron – Codex
Vasculum, Pen
and Ink on Paper, 2008. The Human vessel may be employed as an alchemical
circulatorium through the magico-sexual practice of karezza, or yet other more
arcane forms of praxis.
Not
For Sale
Ars Philtron – Codex
Vasculum,
Pen and Ink on Paper, 2008. Among the most feared attributes of the witch in
the early modern era was her aspect as Venefica
or Poisoner. But
the illuminated knowledge of magical poisons is also accompanied by the
knowledge of antidotes and healing, and of the manifold degrees venom may
manifest.
Not
For Sale
Study for Ars Philtron –
Codex Vasculum
4 ½” x 6” Pen and Ink on Paper, 2008. The
Pelican is a rare and beloved vessel in the Spagyric Art, but it may take
diverse forms, including the Flesh of Man or Woman. The drawing shades the
implicit Autosexual praxis of Zoesis
using the human vessel as the circulator.
SOLD
Ars Philtron – Codex
Vasculum,
Pen and Ink on Paper , 2008. ‘Nails and urine, scorpion and thorn, sulfur and
bone, and seed of hemlock yet green’ begat the Vessel of Witching, bringing
retribution or torment upon an enemy, or fixing the boundaries of the Plot as
did the ancient god Terminus. Such potions are found in diverse magical
streams, but united in their fixity of purpose. In New England, the demolition
of seventeenth and eighteenth century structures occasionally turns up such
bottles secreted in the bones of the house, as also happens in Britain.
Not
For Sale
Study
for Ars Philtron – Codex Vasculum 4”
x 7” Pen and Ink on Paper , 2008. A meditation on the Infernal Well- the
trans-aeonic stream of atavism and pre-incarnate wisdom that culminates in the
present flesh.
SOLD
Ars Philtron – Codex
Vasculum Pen and Ink on Paper, 2008. An image
aligning the nightshade plant Henbane (Hyoscyamus
niger) with its ruling Saturninan grotesque.
Not For Sale
Pen
and Ink on Paper , 2008. The portal of the Witches’ Sabbath may be opened
through the flesh of the votary, having rightly hallowed the body. The gate is
bound by the adjuditrices of Lilith, having two forms, one aligned to the
precinct of Eros, the other of Thanatos.
Not
For Sale